Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

Once again my 62 plate car is in the Toyota garage. They are currently going through a 60 page bulletin manual .

Back story. Since having it serviced a year ago last may and again this May I've had nothing but trouble with the Dpf. This year I took it to Toyota for its service , within 2 weeks the DPF was blocked, they did a regen but as a gesture of goodwill they charged me half which amounted to £80. 1200 miles later within 3 weeks (most of that on motorway) it found it's way back into Toyota with a blocked DPF. This time they kept the car and did a remapping of the emu, plus a regen and I have been driving the car for over 6 weeks without a problem. Now the spanner light has come on , had it reset but it came on again, So I booked it into Toyota as knew something wasnt right and after doing a bit of research realised the oil level could be contaminated. I've just been informed the DPF isn't blocked in fact it's at 8% which means it's doing what it should but that it has recently failed a regen and as a result has contaminated the oil!!! When I took it in on Tuesday I also took with me a bulletin that I had found on this invaluable site with the same issue , I'm at a loss now with his car and am wondering what they are going to do next. The warranty ran out in May however this problem has been in exsistance for over 18months and I have written evidence of that when I wrote to the CEO of Toyota feeling very disgruntled.

Any advice would be very welcome .

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - RobJP

A 62 plate car, but the DPF is only 8% clogged ?

Something there doesn't add up.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

Exactly hence why I have put this on the forum, that is what I've been told in a phone call this afternoon. I feel like wrting to the CEO once again as this car isn't fit for purpose!!

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - RobJP

Instead of kicking off and potentially getting people's backs up, why not call the garage where it is. Calmly and rationally explain that you've been told that the DPF is 8% blocked, and ask them to confirm if this is correct, as it seems odd for a car that's over 5 years old.

Jaw, jaw, is better than war, war - as Churchill said.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

Thank you for your comments, I haven't as yet said anything to anyone but waited for the garage to explain what the problem is, it is the garage that have told me about the percentage when they phoned me to ask about my style of driving and what mileage was on the car when i purchased it. I have owned it for less than 2 years , the car has done 39830 miles , it had 16700 on the clock when I first got it. Thankfully the bulletin that was on here has identified that problem, toyota should be and are aware of it so it will be case of wait and see.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - RobJP

Hang on. You've owned it approaching 2 years, and done 23k miles in that time, and yet you did 1200 miles in 3 weeks (according to your first post).

So that would imply that you don't do much mileage in it most of the time - your average mileage is a bit over 200 miles a week, but you did 400 miles a week for those 3 weeks.

In addition, the first 3+ years of the cars life, it did 16700 miles.

So what is your NORMAL usage pattern for the car ? Motorway use, town driving, short trips, etc ?

I suspect the DPF is actually rather clogged up - largely from the first owner's driving style and usage.

Now, I very much doubt if the DPF would be covered under the original warranty, especially with that sort of use. Much like someone can wreck a clutch in short order, a DPF can be clogged up beyond regens in a matter of weeks or months by a car doing repeated short trips.

I wonder if the DPF is showing as 8% not blocked, rather than 8% blocked.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

I do a 43 mile round trip to work 4 days a week , 40 mins of which is on a motorway . I dobt generally use the car at weekends as I use my OH car . This is an unknown but the problems with my generation of yaris are well documented and not down to style of driving, we cant all be doing it wrong.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - RobJP

I do a 43 mile round trip to work 4 days a week , 40 mins of which is on a motorway . I dobt generally use the car at weekends as I use my OH car . This is an unknown but the problems with my generation of yaris are well documented and not down to style of driving, we cant all be doing it wrong.

You say that, but of the problems on the 'review' section, a significant proportion of them are with vehicles that have done low mileage over a long period of time, or have other relatively obvious reasons for the problems.

For example :

4 year old car, 28k miles, DPF problems. Independent service history.

4 year old car, 27k miles. DPF problems

Unlisted age car, 50k miles. 'driving school' use (which means lots of town work).

1 year old car, 18k miles. DPF problems. Wrong oil used by owner doing their own service.

2011 car, similar problems to yours.

This has been said any number of times. DPF-equipped cars and low mileages do not go well together. In the case of your car, the first 3+ years it appears to have done something like 5k miles a year. Problems in such a case are virtually inevitable.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

Sadly I fear you are right but it was Toyota who sold me the car.

This has happened twice after servicing and they have admitted to me today that they under fill with oil because of the known problem with the DPF.

This is what has now happened to mine, No warning light from DPF to say it needed a regen, no eml as before just the spanner!!!

Ok..yes that the exact procedure for reset the spanner light..that light is actually your oil service light..and comes on every 10,000miles or 1year depending which comes first...Have you asked the dealer to ensure the oil level isnt too high or too low - sometimes if the level gets to high can cause that sometimes if its rising to quickly or diesel is in the oil then that needs to be looked in and you have to insist the dealer checks that..I do note of bullitin that maybe of some use to you to discuss with the dealer that concerns oil issues/spanner light falshing at certain periods ( TSB EG-0017T-0411 ) ..But unfotunatly thats about all you can do in regards ***** ***** approach of reseting the light..but as above certainly get them to ensure the level isnt too high..I do hope this helps

Edited by Orchid5 on 13/09/2017 at 22:35

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Perfection

40k miles us about right mileage for full ash. Replaced mine at around 46k miles. 95% of milage is on motorway driving. Not related to driving style. Same problem happened at 90k miles. This time it is out of warranty as I had it cleaned. Now it is ok at 120k miles. Will need cleaning soon.

My advise is to get it clean at around every 40k miles . Toyota has done a bad job on the Yaris diesel. The filter had been sized incorrectly. It is too small capacity.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

40k miles us about right mileage for full ash. Replaced mine at around 46k miles. 95% of milage is on motorway driving. Not related to driving style. Same problem happened at 90k miles. This time it is out of warranty as I had it cleaned. Now it is ok at 120k miles. Will need cleaning soon.

My advise is to get it clean at around every 40k miles . Toyota has done a bad job on the Yaris diesel. The filter had been sized incorrectly. It is too small capacity.

Thank you for your reply and I think I have to agree with you , as you have stated the majority of my driving is also done on the motorway, no one knows what your driving style is and I feel this is a cop out on Toyotas part . I use shelll v power diesel, put a cleaner in every 1000 miles there isn't much else I can do for a car that isnt for for purpose . I feel as does my brother who is a time served mechanic of 40 yrs that toyota when they knew these early generation cars had problems should've called them back to rectify instead of which we now have a 60 page bulletin manual on them, hey ho whatever I see a bill of over a £1000 fast approaching as a Dpf filter is over £600 to buy!! However they need to find out why it failed a regen as well. Perhaps rather than the dpf warning light illuminate to say your filter is fast approaching being blocked it should cone on to say I need to do a regen, get it on the motorway!!

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - daveyjp

The DPF is a consumable part, anyone buying a diesel and intending on keeping it has to be prepared to pay upwards of £500 at some point.

Even using vpower and cleaner and regular servicing won't fully prevent ash build up - it bakes hard in the filter and can't be fully removed.

I do say hats off to Toyota for investigating as it could also be a sensor failure which may be covered under warranty. They could quite easily have said your DPF is blocked you need a new one.

The 8% is meaningless - it could mean 8% of time/mileage has passed since the last regen.

Edited by daveyjp on 14/09/2017 at 09:35

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - RobJP

Thank you for your reply and I think I have to agree with you , as you have stated the majority of my driving is also done on the motorway, no one knows what your driving style is and I feel this is a cop out on Toyotas part . I use shelll v power diesel, put a cleaner in every 1000 miles there isn't much else I can do for a car that isnt for for purpose . I feel as does my brother who is a time served mechanic of 40 yrs that toyota when they knew these early generation cars had problems should've called them back to rectify instead of which we now have a 60 page bulletin manual on them, hey ho whatever I see a bill of over a £1000 fast approaching as a Dpf filter is over £600 to buy!! However they need to find out why it failed a regen as well. Perhaps rather than the dpf warning light illuminate to say your filter is fast approaching being blocked it should cone on to say I need to do a regen, get it on the motorway!!

I disagree. You can't describe it as 'not fit for purpose'. You have NO IDEA how it was driven, how much abuse the DPF took, in those first 3+ years before you bought the car.

We've had this discussion as to whather there should be a light on the dash for 'DPF regen needed' a few times on here. The general consensus is that most people would either panic at seeing a light on the dash, or ignore it. A tiny minority would have actually read the manual, and go and do as recommended.

Finally, if your brother - a time served mechanic of 40 years - knew that these were such problematic cars, then why on earth did you not get advice from him BEFORE buying the car, and therefore buy something else ?

DPFs are a consumable part. End of story. You want the economy of a modern diesel, you accept that fact. Yes, some last longer than others, some are better designed. But they ALL get clogged up and need changing eventually. Don't want that problem, you go buy a petrol variant.

Maybe some research before buying in future would serve you well.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - RichardW

>>40k miles us about right mileage for full ash.

God, I'm gald I drive one of the rubbish (well 2 actually) unreliable French things...! 307 has done 135k; warning light has just come on suggesting that ash limit has been reached on filter - still regenerating OK; will take it out and clean it, should get the 30-40k miles the car has left in it. C4 Picasso is on 108k and diag computer indicates we are some way away from being full of ash yet. No other DPF problems on either of them in a combined 110k - and the C4 gets less than optimal DPF useage.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Alex cummings
Dpf will be roughly 8 percent after a regen , whether it does it itself or a forced regen.
Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - FiestaOwner
The warranty ran out in May however this problem has been in exsistance for over 18months and I have written evidence of that when I wrote to the CEO of Toyota feeling very disgruntled.

Any advice would be very welcome .

I'm sorry to read of the trouble you're having with your Yaris. Your usage pattern doesn't sound particularly unsuitable for a DPF vehicle. Having read many horror stories about modern Diesels and issues with DPF's, DMF's and EGR valves. I would go for petrol myself in future.

Is your car definitely out of warranty? The Toyota warranty is 5 years or 100,000 miles. You say your car is 62 plate. 62 plates came out September 2012. Unless the manufactures warranty was invalidated, at most you're only 14 days outside it.

Check your log book for your registration date. It might still be covered by the manufacturers warranty.

I understand your annoyance at the way you've been treated by Toyota and their dealers. Toyota are meant to be one of the better companies!

Please do post back to let us know how you get on.

Edited by FiestaOwner on 14/09/2017 at 20:05

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

Thanks all for comments.

Firstly had I thought I needed to do research on a car built by Toyota having previously owned 2 beforehand then I certainly would've done , the mechanic who found me the car, a trusted friend I might add didn't know about the problems with the DPF as I'm sure most of us didn't before actually experiencing it and I'm sure had I consulted with my brother before purchasing it he would've tried to dissuade me!

Update. My car was with Toyota for 2 weeks, they worked through the 60 page bulletin document, attached it to a computer and drove it for a total of 100 miles as they couldn't work out why the spanner had come on. The DPF was not blocked it was at 8% and as I've been informed by the foreman who looked after the car normally the car should be at between 8/12% mine was the lower end. It had recently done a regen , they worked out my mileage to see if it was 'my style of driving ' it was not I do more than is necessary and the car is appropriate for my needs as I'm not a lady who lunches and this was confirmed to my by Toyota. The problem it seems is if a regen fails which it had apparently done the oil level can rise, if it goes above 5mls above max then the spanner light comes on, this is what mine did!

Toyota have been very good they have done a full oil change and have admitted that as a result of my car coming in there is a retraining issue around an oil change as this particular generation of diesel yaris has to be underfilled with oil to allow for that potential rise!!

They are going to monitor my car, have adjusted the DPF light to come on when it needs a regen which it hasnt been doing at least then i will know rather than constantly watching my rev counter and i can take it on the motorway then. If the car goes back they are going to contact Toyota in Japan and get their technicians out to it as nothing showed on the trips they took in the car, everything is working as it should!!

Needless to say when I was chatting to the foreman he himself admitted that there has been a problem and several types of Toyota have different ones, 'what happened to just being able to drive a car? He said. I have to agree if you aren't able to use a car or any other item for what you purchased it for then in the terms of consumer rights 'it isn't fit for purpose and it is up to the manufacturer to prove otherwise !

I have since driven the car to work for the first time today , all good and as it's the end of the month ice also added my cleaner .

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - FiestaOwner

Thanks for the update.

Glad the issues weren't put down to your driving style.

Doesn't seem ideal that if the light comes to indicate that a Regen has started, that you carry on driving for an other half hour or so (to prevent a failed Regen and a rise in the oil level). You might be about to arrive at you work place or a scheduled appointment!

Did you see my previous question (14th September) about whether the car was still under manufacturers warranty?

Did they do the work free of charge this time?

Normally a Toyota would be a safe choice of car. Might be the case that modern diesels are far to complicated and should be avoided.

Yaris Diesel - Toyota again!! - Orchid5

Hi.

Yes the work was done free of charge, sadly my warranty ran out at the end of May hence why i was so concerned after getting it serviced that they sorted this problem out.

I know what you mean re warning light and it not being convenient but unfortunately that's my lot I think. Fingers crossed the problem has been rectified otherwise it will go back.

I shall ensure when checking my oil levels that I have run the car for 20 minutes , waited 5 then look at the level and keep it well below maximum as advised by toyota as that is what they are now goug to ibfirm all dealers to do with this particular model! Hopefully I won't have to bother with any top ups now till the next service as it's had two oil changes already.

And yes to your comment I wouldn't purchase another diesel car , they are more hassle then they are worth. Albeit that newer models have got additional cleaners added to them!

I